Everton stunned Brighton with a 5-1 win on the south coast that moved the Toffees out of the relegation zone on a day that left Southampton in deep trouble and edged Leicester closer to the drop.
Just three matches, all with big implications at the bottom, produced 21 goals as sorry Leicester went down 5-3 at Fulham, dropping into the relegation zone along with Leeds as Nottingham Forest climbed out with a 4-3 win over basement boys Southampton.
The biggest smiles were on Everton faces as fans celebrated only their second league away win of the season, and one of the more unlikely results of the campaign, as they took out some of their considerable frustrations on Europe-chasing Brighton.
A quick break saw Abdoulaye Doucoure poke Everton in front after just 34 seconds, and the Mali midfielder made it 2-0 just before the break as he met Dwight McNeil’s cross with a stunning strike.
Alex Iwobi was trying to set up Doucoure for a hat-trick six minutes later but when he over-hit his pass, McNeil picked up the loose ball and struck a cross which went in off Jason Steele for an own goal.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi made four changes at the break and his side were much improved, but Everton hit them on the break in the 76th minute when McNeil rounded Steele, celebrating the fourth goal before he even applied the finish.
Although Alexis Mac Allister got one back soon after, finally beating the superb Jordan Pickford, there would be no denying Everton a huge win as McNeil added an emphatic strike in stoppage time.
That puts the Toffees 17th, two points clear of the bottom three but still one behind Forest, who took a step away from the trapdoor by pushing Southampton all but through it.
Taiwo Awoniyi scored twice in four minutes midway through the first half to put Forest in control, first sweeping home Brennan Johnson’s low cross, then rifling in a volley when Southampton failed to clear.
The visitors were back in it soon after when Carlos Alcaraz slotted home but the two-goal Forest lead was restored from the penalty spot by Morgan Gibbs-White after Ainsley Maitland-Niles caught Johnson.
Lyanco’s 51st minute header restored Southampton belief and the visitors were on top until Forest broke away with 17 minutes left and Danilo lifted the ball over Alex McCarthy.
James Ward-Prowse converted a stoppage-time penalty but there was no avoiding a defeat that leaves the Saints eight points adrift with three to play.
The goal rush had started earlier in the day at Craven Cottage, where Fulham tore into Leicester to end their three-game unbeaten run and leave them second from bottom.
Leicester, who started the day outside the relegation zone on goal difference alone, were ripped apart in the first half as Willian, Carlos Vinicius and Tom Cairney gave Fulham a commanding 3-0 lead before the break.
Cairney then got his second early in the second half before Leicester finally woke up, too late to change the outcome.
Harvey Barnes pulled one back but Willian’s second made it 5-1 before Barnes scored again and James Maddison added a late penalty to at least limit the damage to Leicester’s goal difference.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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